‘Lawyers on a Hunger Strike Against All Unlawful Acts in This Geography’
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After Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) Chair Selçuk Kozağaçlı and ÇHD members Aycan Çiçek, Aytaç Ünsal, Barkın Timtik, Ebru Timtik, Engin Gökoğlu, Ayşegül Çağatay and Oya Aslan have announced that they have gone on a hunger strike in prison, human rights organizations and lawyers' associations have expressed their solidarity and support for the hunger striking lawyers in a statement for the press in İstanbul Bar Association.
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The statement has been attended by ÇHD lawyers as well as Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İstanbul MPs Züleyha Gülüm and Musa Piroğlu; Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) İstanbul representative Ümit Efe; TİHV İstanbul Branch Executive Board member Prof. Ümit Biçer; writer and artist Temel Demirer; Kemal Aytaç on behalf of Justice Watch; People's Law Bureau (HHB) lawyer Didem Baydar Ünsal; Libertarian Lawyers Association (ÖHD) Co-Chair Ayşe Acinikli; Gülendam Şan Karabulutlar on behalf of Lawyers' Initiative; Yıldız İmrek from the Association of Lawyers for Democracy; Selin Aksoy on behalf of Lawyers Union; Damla Atalay on behalf of Progressive Lawyers Group and Hasan Fehmi Demir, an attorney of the case. |
'Judgement given in haste now upheld in haste'
The statement has been read out by ÇHD Vice Chair Ümit Büyükdağ:
"Our arrested colleagues were hastily sentenced to 159 years in prison in total in an ignominy which is only a trial by its name. The judgement given in an haste based on the statements of anonymous witnesses and informants was immediately upheld by the court of appeals and, now, the process at the Court of Cassation continues at the same speed.
"The process undergone by our fellow lawyers under the pretext of a 'trial' is one of the most plain examples of the absence of judiciary in Turkey.
"Our friends, who have based their understanding of law on siding with the oppressed, see that resisting against fascism is a requirement of being a revolutionary lawyer. Their resistance is not only against the unlawful acts that they are faced with.
"On the contrary, they are expressing requests shared by every single individual in this geography who has not yet lost his or her consciousness and human feelings. They are declaring that they will not give up being the lawyers of the oppressed and exploited, the nature and life."
'We demand a trial siding with the people'
Taking the floor after Büyükdağ, lawyer Didem Baydar Ünsal has reminded the audience that the lawyers also went on a hunger strike and expressed their demands for justice while the trial was still proceeding.
She has listed their current demands as follows:
"We want a definite, foreseeable, transparent trial activity for the people and siding with the people, where the principles of trial achieved as a result of struggles be implemented, the right of defense and a fair trial be enforced as required and the 'crime' be proven with concrete and scientific evidence."
CLICK - Eight Lawyers from ÇHD Begin Hunger Strike
ÖHD Co-Chair Acinikli has indicated that the demands of lawyers are rightful and legitimate, expressing solidarity with the arrested lawyers.
HDP MP Piroğlu has also stressed that unlawful acts are prevalent in all areas of life: "The government has long been using courts as an instrument of force. The demands of the lawyers are the demands of us all."
Writer and artist Temel Demirer has stated that whatever the lawyers are doing, they are doing it for the working class.
Lawyer İmrek has also expressed her wish that the demands of hunger striking lawyers are met as soon as possible.
Ümit Biçer from the TİHV has underlined that lawyers are made to struggle for the right to a fair trial, a fundamental right, and expressed their concerns about the hunger strikes. (AS/SD)